Winnipeg | Downtown | Portage Place | Redevelopment | U/C

[WinCitySparky]

Originally Posted by buzzg

So after all this money and all this talk of revilatlizing PP, the area, and especially Portage, we’re going to get:
- 1 block of blank wall with a single entrance for grocery
- 1 block of the BIZ and DCSP offices
- 1 block of blank wall health centre
- Edmonton Court just being an entrance to health centre and maybe Shoppers
- A promenade that continues to be a blank wall behind Servce Canada and other offices despite being designed to be almost all street facing retail

I’m sorry but if this plan sticks this is going to be another colossal mega project failure. We’ll get a new health centre and TN will get a new downsized mall and residential building, but it will do absolutely nothing to improve the street and area around it.

All those businesses should be moved to face Portage & The Promenade, and the offices moved elsewhere, internally or upstairs. That and/or Shoppers and the grocery store should have minimal street front space aside from the entrances, then tuck retail between them and the street. Bare minimum if keeping a food court it should actually face the street, this is an abysmal plan.

When you put it that way, it does sound less than ideal

[cllew]

I am going on memory here but I think years ago there was a Shop Easy (Loblaws brand) at Portage Place on the main floor of the Promenade building and the franchise owner closed it down due to excessive stock shrink. He also owned a Shop Easy out by me in East Kildonan for a number of years.

[pspeid]

The aesthetic of the central part of the mall does seem to be scaled back from the initial flashy renders, but I'm not going to agree it's "abysmal". I have no idea what kind of financial pressures a project of this scale is under, considering the effects of tariffs, availability of skilled workers, etc. etc. etc. It must be dizzying.

I think we have to remember the project is still turning an underused downtown mall into much more useful retail, service and residential space. We're "getting" services to help deal with addiction issues, more residents in the downtown and two nice little towers to fill a pretty significant visual gap in that part of the downtown skyline.

I know there's reluctance on the part of some folks here to be forced to "settle" for anything less than best case scenario. There's something to be said for setting lofty goals, but there's also something to be said for setting achievable goals.

Personally I'll wait and see the finished project. I suspect True North might have some kind of plan to at least spruce up the exterior of the middle part of the mall, even if the facade isn't a total rebuild.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Originally Posted by pspeid

The aesthetic of the central part of the mall does seem to be scaled back from the initial flashy renders, but I'm not going to agree it's "abysmal". I have no idea what kind of financial pressures a project of this scale is under, considering the effects of tariffs, availability of skilled workers, etc. etc. etc. It must be dizzying.

I think we have to remember the project is still turning an underused downtown mall into much more useful retail, service and residential space. We're "getting" services to help deal with addiction issues, more residents in the downtown and two nice little towers to fill a pretty significant visual gap in that part of the downtown skyline.

I know there's reluctance on the part of some folks here to be forced to "settle" for anything less than best case scenario. There's something to be said for setting lofty goals, but there's also something to be said for setting achievable goals.

Personally I'll wait and see the finished project. I suspect True North might have some kind of plan to at least spruce up the exterior of the middle part of the mall, even if the facade isn't a total rebuild.

I pretty much agree with all you’ve said here.

[bon_vivant]

Yes. Working with what we've got is the Winnipeg way. Please re-skin the skywalks, though. Just glass, transparent and less obtrusive. No need for shops inside them.

[Norquay]

To be entirely fair, i'm pretty sure the section of portage place with apartments and disused shop fronts along the promenade is essentially a different building with different management. I think they have made a decent attempt with what they have to create street facing entrances and retail

[cllew]

Originally Posted by Norquay

To be entirely fair, i'm pretty sure the section of portage place with apartments and disused shop fronts along the promenade is essentially a different building with different management. I think they have made a decent attempt with what they have to create street facing entrances and retail

That is a Shelter Canadian Properties building. Also SCP owned properties next to Portage Place are the Free Press Building and the ISM building at 400 Ellice.

[Wpg_Guy]

Issued Permit #25-157218 RP-2025-06-23, Interior and Exterior Alterations. Affordable Housing Support - Concurrent Building Permit Submission - Landlord Work - Interior and Exterior Alteration to Existing Multi-tenant, Multi-Storey Shopping Centre. Alterations occurring on Eastern half of Property. Demo work include: Structural Demolition of Concrete Slab, Structure, Stairs, Columns, Steel Atrium and Floor Assemblies including Mezzanine Level. Other Interior Demo work to include, partition walls, doors, ceilings and bulkheads, escalators, bridge, guardrails and stair railings. Exterior work to include removal of cladding, insulation, clock tower, doors, wall(s), store fronts, and roof assembly. Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing work being done (demo).

[Wpg_Guy]

New renderings






SMS Engineering

[neutroniks]

Looks like they removed the 4 terraces from the original renders? Or are they just hidden at that angle?

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by neutroniks

Looks like they removed the 4 terraces from the original renders? Or are they just hidden at that angle?

Also removed about 3 or 4 floors. No renders yet for their residential tower.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by neutroniks

Looks like they removed the 4 terraces from the original renders? Or are they just hidden at that angle?

they appear to have been eliminated.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

The multi-level terraces probably cost a bomb…and in reality didn’t make much sense on a building that will be full of folks looking for treatment of musculoskeletal conditions.

[Biff]

I have seen the drawings, and unfortunately it doesn't appear that they will be redoing the skywalks. Maybe it will be at a later time, but they look to stay in their current form for this build.

I have to say, visually I liked this more black and white version of the design.

[Sheepish]

The design looks cheap and uninspiring. Wow, all that investment and this is the best they come up with. Pretty disappointing. I fear they are replacing one ill-conceived project with another one. Hope to be proven wrong.

[bon_vivant]

Originally Posted by Biff

I have seen the drawings, and unfortunately it doesn't appear that they will be redoing the skywalks. Maybe it will be at a later time, but they look to stay in their current form for this build.

Sad. These things are a visual blight on Portage avenue.

[bon_vivant]

Originally Posted by Sheepish

The design looks cheap and uninspiring. Wow, all that investment and this is the best they come up with. Pretty disappointing. I fear they are replacing one ill-conceived project with another one. Hope to be proven wrong.

Yes, now the cheapening starts as it moves from rendering to reality. It's still an improvement over what we have now, though. How much of an improvement depends on how far the project gets scaled back as it moves along. The lack of store frontage is concerning, like one commentor mentioned, but then again, PP tried that already. One by one the retailers closed their street-facing storefronts and restricted store access through the mall only. The PP store fronts never took off, so why would new ones? I guess the difference would be that they would have a street-facing entrance only, no mall entrance option. Anyway... can't always make people use a building the way you want them to. Overall, this development seems like a better fit. Fingers crossed.

[pspeid]

I think some developers would have done a little "bait and switch" with renders to get a project going, but I don't think True North is one of them. The renders are provided for True North square are exactly what was built. I think if they were able to do a full retrofit of the mall AND build the two new towers they would have. Personally I don't doubt Mark Chipman is distressed over any compromises he has to make to get this project "essentially" done. The aesthetics of the remaining 2/3 of the mall and the overpasses can be tackled later.

[bon_vivant]

Originally Posted by Biff

I have seen the drawings, and unfortunately it doesn't appear that they will be redoing the skywalks. Maybe it will be at a later time, but they look to stay in their current form for this build.

Radical thought, but I have to wonder if these skywalks are really all that necessary anymore now that all the shopping is gone. We did fine without them before, and that's when people actually shopped downtown. The foot traffic can't be the same that it used to be. I'd rather they spend the money to remove them and restore Portage avenue to it's unobstructed grandeur.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by bon_vivant

Radical thought, but I have to wonder if these skywalks are really all that necessary anymore now that all the shopping is gone. We did fine without them before, and that's when people actually shopped downtown. The foot traffic can't be the same that it used to be. I'd rather they spend the money to remove them and restore Portage avenue to it's unobstructed grandeur.

They will keep them for no other reason than it connects the Portage Place parkade to the Canada Life Centre, convenient for patrons.